Later this month, the Hubble Space Telescope will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
This photo of the Hubble Space telescope being deployed, on April 25. 1990, was taken by the IMAX… [+]
NASA/SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION/LOCKHEED CORPORATION
More than any other observatory in history, Hubble revealed what the Universe looks like.
Looking back from the present day, we can see a ‘pencil beam’ view of the distant Universe. But a… [+]
NASA / STSCI / A. FEILD
When it was first launched, a problem with its mirror’s optics produced only flawed images.
The before-and-after difference between Hubble’s original view (left) with the mirror flaws, and the… [+]
NASA / STSCI
In late 1993, new flaw-correcting equipment was installed, along with an improved camera: WFPC2.
The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) was Hubble’s workhorse camera for many years. It… [+]
NASA
The next year, scientists embarked on a risky observing campaign: the Hubble Deep Field.
When you collect just a single photon at a time, many of them will be hot pixels, cosmic rays,… [+]
R. WILLIAMS (STSCI), THE HUBBLE DEEP FIELD TEAM AND NASA/ESA
They examined a region of sky that was seemingly empty: with no bright, nearby stars or galaxies.
The original target area selected for the Hubble Deep Field. This was out of the plane of the… [+]
NASA / DIGITAL SKY SURVEY, STSCI
For ten consecutive days, across multiple wavelengths, Hubble observed the same patch of nothing, collecting one photon at a time.
The original Hubble deep field image, shown here, was taken by stacking dozens of images of an empty… [+]
R. WILLIAMS (STSCI), THE HUBBLE DEEP FIELD TEAM AND NASA
When all the data was collected, this is what they saw.
A small section of the original Hubble Deep Field, featuring hundreds of easily distinguishable… [+]
R. WILLIAMS (STSCI), THE HUBBLE DEEP FIELD TEAM AND NASA
Where nothing was known previously, thousands of new, distant, faint galaxies were revealed.
Less than a year after the original Hubble Deep Field was produced, the same team chose a different… [+]
R. WILLIAMS (STSCI), THE HDF-S TEAM, AND NASA/ESA
These Hubble Deep Field images revolutionized our view of the Universe.
Fewer galaxies are seen nearby and at great distances than at intermediate ones, but that’s due to a… [+]
NASA / ESA
Future observing campaigns and subsequent, superior instruments brought the Universe into greater focus.
This image showcases the massive, distant galaxy cluster Abell S1063. As part of the Hubble Frontier… [+]
NASA, ESA, AND M. MONTES (UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES)
Deep, wide-field surveys, like Hubble’s Frontier Fields, revealed distant, massive galaxy clusters.
A small section of the GOODS-North field as viewed in ultraviolet light by the Hubble Deep UV (HDUV)… [+]
NASA, ESA, P. OESCH (UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA), AND M. MONTES (UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES)
The Ultra-Deep and eXtreme Deep Fields surpassed the original Hubble Deep Field.
The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) may have observed a region of sky just 1/32,000,000th of the… [+]
HUDF09 AND HXDF12 TEAMS / E. SIEGEL (PROCESSING)
Even more distant and fainter secrets are out there.
The viewing area of Hubble (top left) as compared to the area that WFIRST will be able to view, at… [+]
NASA / GODDARD / WFIRST
Future missions, like WFIRST and LUVOIR, will reveal them.
A simulated view of the same part of the sky, with the same observing time, with both Hubble (L) and… [+]
G. SNYDER, STSCI /M. POSTMAN, STSCI
F0rbes